Kadena deploys to Alaska for "Northern Edge" Exercise

  • Published
  • By Tech Sgt. Angelique Perez
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
Roughly 200 Team Kadena maintenance, support, and operations personnel deployed to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska to participate in "Northern Edge", a joint force training exercise from June 15-26. 

Northern Edge brings over 9,000 active duty, reserve, guard, and civilian personnel from the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army, and Coast Guard together to train in Alaska's vast airspace, ideal for a large force exercise to operate over both ocean and mountainous terrain. 

Commander of the 44th Fighter Squadron at Kadena and Mission Commander for the exercise, Lt. Col. Brian Farrar said the exercise is designed to validate current tactics, enhance joint integration, and improve command, control, and communication capabilities among Pacific warfighters. 

"It is not a competition and we don't receive a grade," Lt. Col. Farrar said. "It is an opportunity to test our tactics and equipment in a very difficult operational environment." 

Aircraft from bases throughout the Pacific and continental U.S. are operating out of Elmendorf and Eielson Air Force Bases as well as the aircraft carrier U.S.S. John C. Stennis. Adversaries are comprised of Air Force units from Eielson and Nellis Air Force Bases along with other Air Force, Navy, and contract participants. 

"The 18th Wing's contribution to Northern Edge is primarily at the tactical level as we provide F-15 air superiority, KC-135 air refueling, and AWACs command and control," the Lt. Col. said. 

He said that the exercise gives 18th Wing participants a taste of air warfare against highly capable threats similar to those they could encounter in the Pacific area of operations. 

"It enables us to refine tactics and capabilities in a controlled environment and allows us to make mistakes that we would not want to make in the first few days of combat," he added. 

Maintainers from five different squadrons in the 18th Maintenance Group make up over half of the personnel deployed from Kadena. 

The maintainers are working alongside Airmen from other Air Force bases as well as maintainers from the Navy and Marine Corps. Though from different services, they all have the same mission goal in mind. To provide safe and effective combat aircraft to meet the daily exercise flying schedule so their pilots can practice operations, techniques and procedures, as well as enhance interoperability among the services. 

"It is always a challenge to pack out enough tools, equipment and parts to maintain 12 F-15's for over three weeks," said Capt. Christian Backhaus, 44th Aircraft Maintenance Unit's Officer in Charge. "Whenever we deploy to exercises such as this it gives us an opportunity to hone and sharpen our deployment skills." 

He added that one of the benefits to training in Alaska is that the Airmen are able to focus on the mission without the daily distractions that would be present at home station, such as leave or appointments. 

The Captain praised the maintainers and said he is very proud of how they have been coping with the unique challenges that come with deployments. 

The maintainers generate an average of 18 sorties per day with 12 F-15 aircraft during the Northern Edge exercise. 

One way to keep maintainers motivated during the long days and hard work is through the incentive flight program. Exercises, such as this one, are the ideal opportunity to provide incentive flights. 

Operations and maintenance work hard to take advantage of the opportunity. It allows the pilots to give their maintainers a token of their appreciation while at the same time giving them insight into the rigors that both the pilots and the aircraft go through during flight, the Capt. said. 

"Being successful with a full flying schedule and limited resources such as aircraft and parts and equipment, takes a lot of hard work and we really have to be on top of our game," the Captain said. "We have the best Airmen in the world; this exercise is our chance to show that."